Trust is Fragile (One Shot Request)
by myfluffypenguin
Summary: This is a one shot requested to me by MASTEROFEVERYTHING19. I'm using her OC Dana. She learns a valuable lesson one night when running into an old friend.


It was 10:30 pm. Her cellphone buzzed again. Dana groaned. This was the sixth time in the pass thirty minutes. She rolled her eyes, thinking he would have caught on by now. Nevertheless, she ignored the text and shoved her cell back in her bag.  
She finished up her drink, left a tip, and headed out the door. What made New York City an interesting place was no matter the time of day, it was always bright. The city lights illuminated the dark streets, making it easier for Dana to find her way back. The bar was only a couple of blocks away from her place, and she knew better not to drive after drinking, so she walked home.  
All the way, she huffed and groaned as she tried to get that jerk off her mind. How could she not see that he was trouble? How could she have seemed so desperate and stupid to easily fall for his alluring words? Just thinking about it made her face burn with anger. Blinded by her emotions, stimulated by the alcohol, Dana decided to take a short cut to through the shadow-consumed alleyway. She was too uneasy to care.  
All of a sudden, she bumped into something, or someone. Stumbling back, a little surprised by the impact, she let out a little "_Yeep_!" as she tried to find her footing.  
"I thought I would find you here," a smooth, familiar voice said. "You always take the short cut when you're mad about something."  
Dana looked up, immediately recognizing that voice. "Sam?" Saying his name was bitter in her mouth. She felt her face begin to twist into a frown as she looked into his harsh, green eyes.  
"Oh, so you do remember me?" he said, walking up to her. "I thought you'd forgotten me, because you haven't been answering my texts all night."  
"I have nothing to say to you," she growled, standing her ground with clenched fists. She didn't want to give Sam the impression that she was just some scared little girl he could push around.  
"Baby, come on," he shrugged. "It could have happened to anyone. It's no big deal. Things like this happen all the time." He reached out to ruffle her short, white hair, but she knocked his hand away with a huff.  
"I said I don't want to talk to you, Sam," she snapped. "I don't want to see you ever again for what you did."  
He chuckled. "That was a week ago. And from the way I heard it, you got off easy. It could have been a lot worse. You gotta look at the brighter side of things."  
"That's no excuse. It still happened." She gnashed her teeth at him.  
He playfully sighed with a grin. "Well, if you were to have read my texts, you would know that I've been trying to apologize. But I should also tell you that you didn't go through all that trouble for nothing."  
Still holding her defensive stance, she cocked her head. "What?"  
"It was all part of a test."  
"Test?"  
Sam smiled—but it wasn't a friendly smile at all. Dana heard footsteps behind her. She turned around to see two men approach her. She started to get a little antsy, realizing she was technically alone, but still did not budge. "Dana these are my friends. Say, 'hi.'"  
"Who are they?" she asked, nervously eyeing the men up and down.  
He walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "The robbery. Your detainment. They were all part of the final test to get me accepted." He walked her over to the men. "It was my job to make an obvious robbery scene and get away while framing you for it. That's rule number one about being a Dragon: Family and friends must be sacrificed for the honor of the Dragon."  
"What are you talking about?" Dana asked, her voice now at a higher pitch with fright.  
"I'm a PD, Dana. A Purple Dragon," Sam announced proudly. "We are the greatest street gang in the city and we will not shy away from claiming this city as our own."  
"That's why you did it?" she asked, feeling all sorts of emotion begin to clench up her stomach. "You used me? You became my friend so you could use me? I'm nothing but a ticket into a street gang?"  
Sam looked her in the eye now. His tone of voice was dark. "We use who we can. Friends and family don't matter anymore." He turned his over his wrist, palm up, to reveal a dragon tattoo. "The Purple Dragons are my only family."  
Dana gathered as much strength as she could to push Sam off of her as she turned to run. He was a criminal and she most certainly wanted nothing to do criminals. She didn't get more than five feet away when a strong hand grabbed her arm. The men held her steady as Sam picked himself up and dusted off his clothes. "You always have a little fight in you, huh?" he laughed.  
Struggling against the men's hold, she yelled, "Sam, let me go! I want nothing to do with you."  
"But I'm not done with you," he said. She looked up at him with worry in her eyes. "I can't trust you to keep your mouth shut about this. Any witnesses to the Purple Dragons must be eliminated. You'll report us, no doubt..."  
"You bet I will!" she interrupted.  
Sam roughly grabbed her face. "I'd have a feeling you'd say that. But I'm offering you a choice." The men held her tighter as Sam pulled out a pocket knife. Dana began to breathe heavily and her brow began to seep sweat. "Join us, Dana. Become a Purple Dragon. We can be together again."  
Looking at the blade in his hand, she started to tremble. This _was_ her friend. What happened? How could he take such a turn? "You can't do this," she whimpered.  
"Join us, Dana," he said stroking the side of her face with the back of his hand. "Join us, and I won't have to."  
All of a sudden, something snapped within her. She tore her face away from Sam's touch and viciously bit him on the hand, clamping her teeth hard in between the joints of his knuckles. He hollered out in pain. How dare he ask her to do such a thing! She wasn't a criminal and she certainly wasn't planning on being a criminal. She was planning on living a clean life, but that all changed ever since her so-called-friend set her up. Sam framed her, left her, making a mark on her record, and now he's asking for a truce by becoming a full time criminal? The very thought of it made Dana's eyes shed hot, itchy tears of anger. Her teeth dug deeper into his flesh.  
Suddenly, there was a sharp, burning pain in Dana's side. Her body twitched and her eyes widened at the suddenness of it. She let out a yelp, but clenched her teeth back down on Sam's hand. A hard slap across the face made her release him. Sam stumbled back, holding his throbbing hand, crying out. The two men yanked Dana back. She shook her head, trying to recover from the strike to her face. Even worse, she felt an incredible, throbbing pain in her side. She didn't know what it was... until she felt the wetness dripping down. Blood? Her face flushed and her heart thumped.  
Sam shook his hand, airing the burning feeling as he hissed out. He glared at her with his green, flaring eyes. "Why, you little..." he snapped. He slapped her hard across the face again.  
It burned badly. "Stop!" Dana cried. "Leave me alone!" She tugged against the men who were holding her. It was no use. They laughed at her struggles, her cries, her fear.  
"I guess this means you won't be joining us," Sam growled. "It was nicely knowing you, kid." He grabbed her by the throat and drew his knife back.  
"HELP!" Dana screamed at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face.  
All of a sudden, a large shadow flew over head. Something landed right behind Sam with a thud. He whirled around in time to see a large green, three-fingered hand reach out from the shadows, pick him up by his shirt, and brutally hurled him into the wall. Sam crashed into the bricks, gagging out at the impact, then collapsing motionless on the ground. The shadow then swiftly moved behind to the two men. They immediately released Dana to stand and fight.  
Overwhelmed with such physical and emotional stress, Dana dropped to the ground, trying to crawl away, panicked by the noise of the the scuffle and ruckus behind her. She grunted at the pain in her side. It burned so badly she couldn't help but place her hand over it. the dirtiness of her hand with sweat and dirt made the open wound sting even more. Her whole body froze as she cried out, removing her hand. Feeling wetness, she looked and saw blood, lots of it, smeared all over her hand. She felt the heavy weight of shock start to over some her mind. Her eyes widened, but it didn't stop the darkness from creeping into the corners of her vision. She finally passed out, hearing only the struggles of the two men fighting whoever or whatever had come to her aid.

It felt like hours later when Dana finally regained consciousness. She opened her eyes, surprised to find herself in some sort of room. It was a very plain room, like a worn out motel. It was somewhat dark. A small, single lamp offered a little light, but the room was still pretty dim. The lights from the city could still be seen through the window, but other than that, it was relatively dark. She stretched herself out on the bed she was laying on. She grunted, still feeling a bit soar as she sat up.  
"Careful," a deep, sudden voice said. Dana jumped. Wildly she looked in the direction where the voice came from. She could barely see, but someone was standing deep in the shadows in the corner of the room. From the tone of the voice, it sounded male."Easy. I'm not gonna hurt'cha," he said. "You gotta calm down. You really took a shock."  
"I'll be fine," she said, trying to get up, acting against the stranger's advice. She stood up, clasped her side, and flopped back down. She gasped out, grinding her teeth at the sharpness of pain. She could still feel the wetness coming from her side.  
The stranger huffed. "What I tell yah?"  
She heard him take a step closer. A chill ran up her spine. She still couldn't see him clearly, but the mass and vibration of the step was way heavier than she expected. Whoever the stranger is is big... very big. She inched away a bit as she braced herself, like she was preparing to fight.  
"Relax. I said I'm not gonna hurt'cha," he said again.  
"Who are you? What are you?" Dana asked, tensing up her body.  
There was a snort. "Look, I'm trying to help you, kid. That wound in your side could get infected if I don't take a look at it."  
The pain was growing in her side. She could feel the blood start dripping again. Probably because she was moving too much. She lowered her guard. "Fine," she said.  
She heard the stranger walk around the bed. Still not fully exposed to the light, Dana could not see him, but his form, his shadow could be seen. He was very big, but he... was not human. The shape of his form looked human... but at the same time, didn't look human. She stared at him, heart thumping, waiting for the big reveal.  
"You're nervous?" he asked.  
She tried to relax her stiffened body, but she couldn't. "What are you?"  
Slowly, very slowly, the stranger stepped into the dim light of the lamp. Dana's eyes widened. The stranger was... a turtle? A... humanoid-like turtle. She looked him up and down. He stood up right like a human. He even _spoke_ like a human. He was dressed in some sort of leather clothing. He had straps around his waist and his chest, and his powerful legs, two-toed feet, and thick arms were partly wrapped in white cloth. Sheathed at his side were two, glimmering sias; one on the left and one on the right. They looked deadly sharp. The light dazzled off the blades, making them look like they were made of silver. He stared down at her with a cold, hard glare, grinding his teeth on the toothpick in his mouth. He wore a red bandana that clad his flaring, green eyes, which made him look all the more fierce. To top it off, he had a small pair of black tented sunglasses sitting on the top of his head. She was stunned, at first.  
"You done staring?" he asked in a huff.  
Snapping out of her daze, Dana relaxed her stiffened body. "I... I never took you for..."  
"Yeah, yeah," he said, rolling his eyes as if this wasn't the first time he heard this. "You never took me to be a turtle. If I had a dollar for ever time I heard that..." He walked over and sat next to Dana, making her bound on the mattress from the impact. "Now, let's take a look."  
He grabbed her shirt and pulled it up enough to see the damage. Forgetting that she was even wounded, she couldn't help but blush as he examined her body. The more she looked at him, the more she realized how... attracted she was to him.  
He lightly pressed one of his large fingers around the area of the wound and slightly pulled down. More blood flowed out. She flinched, hissing out. "The gash isn't too deep," he said. "It's close enough to your rib, but it's not that deep. A little clean up and bandage should do the trick." As he pulled out some disinfecting wipes and some gauze out of a pouch, he asked, "Are you crazy or something to be alone on this side of town at night?"  
"I can take care of myself," she huffed back.  
"Well, I can see that," he said. "You can handle yourself real well."  
Dana sighed, flushing with anger and embarrassment. "I guess I was trying to blow off some steam," she said. "I had a lot of friend... people issues to deal with lately."  
"Friend issues?" the turtle asked, pulling out a paper towel next.  
"He's not my friend!" she said, in a rather loud tone. "He was never my friend!"  
The turtle looked at her with one eye ridge raised in confusion. He shrugged. "Ok, then." He dampened the paper towel with some water from his water bottle, lifted up Dana's shirt again and gently started cleaning up the blood. The water felt cool against her burning skin. She slightly flinched, but she held still. After the blood was soaked up, the turtle took the disinfecting wipe. He wrapped his other arm around Dana to hold her steady. "This might sting a bit," he said. Though he was gentle in disinfecting the wound, Dana couldn't help but gasp out at the sharp sting. It burned. She held onto him, digging her fingers in his arm, breathing heavily at the pain. Tears swelled up in her eyes, but she tried to focus on the smooth texture of his scales instead of the discomfort. Once he was done, her body relaxed, but she still held on to him, still a bit shaken. "That should do it," he said. "Are you ok?" She nodded, trying to calm her breathing. He let her still cling to him as he readied the gauze.  
"Look, I know it's none of my business, but I'm just putting two and one together," he said. "The friend you mentioned? He was the one who did this, right?"  
Dana clenched her hands. Her heart thumped. "He isn't my friend. He was never my friend. I trusted him, and he... used me." The very thought of it saddened her again.  
"You just meet the guy?" the turtle asked, lifting up her shirt a little higher to get the gauze around her.  
"I knew him ever since middle school," she sighed. "We... were... great friends. I trusted him with everything. How could he have turned like that? How could he give me up so easily?"  
The turtle wrapped the bandages around her, gentle and slightly tight, listening closely. "Trust is a fragile thing," he sad. "It may seem someone has your back, but will turn around and leave you before you know it. Yah gotta be careful with who you give your trust to."  
"You would know?" she asked, looking at him.  
"A friend of mine, actually. Her father paid with his life because he trusted someone who he thought was a friend. I'm not say'n don't trust anyone. I'm say'n don't but _too_ much trust into that person before you get yourself trapped. Even if you've know them your whole life, they could up and one day turn on you before you know it."  
Dana turned her eyes to the floor, taking what he said to mind. He was right. She did put too much trust into Sam, and look where it's gotten her: a mark on her record and a mark on her body. She shouldn't have acted so desperately towards him.  
The turtle made one last wrap around, tore the gauze, and tightened it up. "There you go. All fixed," he said. "We should get you home now. You've had one wild night, huh?" He carefully picked her up, lifted the window open, and leaped out. Dana held tight as he jumped through the city with brute force and grace. Upon arriving at her apartment, he jumped down onto the sidewalk, carefully back up into the shadows. "Here we are," he said, putting her down.  
Dana looked back on her apartment, then back at him. "I can't thank you enough for saving me tonight," she said.  
"No worries," he said. "Just stay out of trouble. Oh, and remember what I said about trust. Be careful who you give it to."  
She nodded, but then looked up at him with a pleading look. "Can I trust you?"  
He smiled as he patted her head. "For now, you can."  
"I'm Dana," she said with a smile.  
"Name's Raphael," he answered back.  
She watched him jump up the walls and vanish into the night. She hoped that wasn't the last she will see of him as she walked into her apartment.


End file.
